Why UAE businesses are replacing NAV, GP and AX right now
Mainstream support for Dynamics NAV, GP and AX has ended or is ending, depending on the version. That alone moves a replacement from "someday" to a dated decision.
In the UAE a second pressure is stacked on top of it. Corporate tax arrived for financial years starting on or after 1 June 2023, and e-invoicing is following on a Peppol-based model. A system that was configured before either existed is now being asked to produce things it was never designed to produce.
The combination is what makes this urgent here and merely important elsewhere. Companies that were planning a 2028 upgrade are finding the compliance timetable has chosen the date for them.
Is Business Central ready for UAE e-invoicing?
Not on its own, and this is the most important paragraph on this page.
Business Central ships with localisations for many countries. The UAE e-invoicing requirement is not one of them at the time of writing. Meeting it means building an extension — AL code that maps your transaction data to the mandatory PINT AE field set and connects to an accredited service provider.
That has a consequence worth being blunt about: a partner whose business is reselling licences and running standard configuration usually cannot do this. It is a development project inside an ERP, which is a different skill.
It is also the specific reason we think a firm with 14 years of .NET engineering behind it is a reasonable choice for a UAE Dynamics project, and we would rather make that argument than claim a certification we do not hold.
How UAE VAT and corporate tax get handled
• VAT at 5%, with the correct return cycle, input and output treatment, reverse-charge handling and the free-zone rules that apply to your entity type.
• Corporate tax at 9%, reflected in the chart of accounts and in the reporting your finance team has to file, rather than reconstructed at year end.
• Multi-entity and multi-currency, because most UAE groups run several entities across mainland and free zones and report in more than one currency.
None of this is exotic. It is simply the part that gets skipped when an implementation is priced on licence count and delivered to a template.
Which Dynamics 365 product fits
Business Central suits most UAE mid-market companies — broadly, organisations where the finance and operations team is measured in tens rather than hundreds, with straightforward manufacturing or distribution.
Finance & Operations suits larger and more complex operations: deep manufacturing, sophisticated warehousing, many legal entities, high transaction volume.
The honest version is that the boundary is not a user count, it is a complexity threshold, and firms that quote you one without asking about your processes are selling rather than advising. We will tell you if Business Central is enough, including when that means a smaller project for us.
What we deliver
• Implementation of Business Central or Finance & Operations, from discovery to go-live • Migration from Dynamics NAV, GP or AX, including data and customisations • UAE compliance layer — VAT, corporate tax, and e-invoicing readiness • Custom AL extensions where standard functionality does not reach • Integration with Power BI, Power Apps and existing systems • Post-go-live support during UAE working hours
Industries we work with in the UAE
Real estate and property management, trading and distribution, contracting and EPC, retail, logistics and freight forwarding, and professional services.
Trading and contracting are worth singling out because they are disproportionately common in the Gulf and disproportionately badly served. Contracting in particular has requirements — project accounting, retention, progress billing, subcontractor management — that a standard distribution-shaped implementation handles poorly.
Dubai delivery, Indore engineering
Discovery workshops, requirement sessions, user training and go-live support run from our Dubai office. Development runs from Indore, where our 20 Microsoft-certified engineers are.
We say this plainly because the alternative — implying a large UAE delivery team — falls apart in the first week of a project. The arrangement is the commercial argument, not something to hide: you get people in your timezone and occasionally in your meeting room, at a build cost a fully UAE-staffed firm cannot reach.
Our week runs Monday to Friday on Gulf Standard Time.
Timeline and cost in AED
A Business Central implementation for a single UAE entity with standard processes typically runs three to five months from kick-off to go-live. Multi-entity, heavy customisation or a Finance & Operations project runs longer.
On cost, the bands below come from our published pricing, converted at the pegged rate of 3.6725 dirhams to the dollar. They cover our implementation work. Microsoft licences are separate and billed by Microsoft.
• Custom CRM or ERP module — AED 110,000 to 310,000 • Enterprise platform with compliance and integration — AED 350,000 and up
A firm price before a requirements session is a guess, and we would rather do the session.
Frequently asked questions
Does Business Central support UAE e-invoicing out of the box?
No. There is no native UAE e-invoicing module, so meeting the requirement means building an AL extension that maps your data to the mandatory PINT AE fields and connects to an accredited service provider.
How does Business Central handle 5% UAE VAT?
Through standard tax configuration, but the return cycle, reverse-charge cases and free-zone treatment have to be set up correctly for your entity type. This is configuration and testing work, not a switch.
Is corporate tax at 9% handled in Dynamics 365?
It is reflected through the chart of accounts and reporting setup rather than a dedicated module. The work is making sure your accounts produce what the filing needs, instead of reconstructing it at year end.
Can Dynamics 365 data stay in the UAE?
Data residency for Dynamics 365 follows different rules from raw Azure infrastructure and varies by service and tier. We verify it per service during design rather than assuming it from the Azure region list.
Should we choose Business Central or Finance & Operations?
Business Central suits most UAE mid-market companies. Finance & Operations suits deep manufacturing, complex warehousing, many legal entities or high transaction volume. The boundary is process complexity, not a user count.
Can you migrate us from Dynamics NAV, GP or AX?
Yes — data, customisations and processes. Whether customisations move across or get rebuilt depends on how far the original strayed from standard, which the discovery phase establishes.
Do you support Arabic in Dynamics 365?
Yes, including right-to-left interfaces and Arabic reporting. Our own website runs fully in Arabic, so this is something we do rather than something we outsource.
How long does a Business Central implementation take?
Three to five months for a single UAE entity with standard processes. Multi-entity, heavy customisation or Finance & Operations projects run longer.
Do you serve Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as well as Dubai?
Yes. Both are routine from the JLT office, and Azure UAE Central in Abu Dhabi occasionally matters for residency and latency decisions.
Who supports us after go-live, and in which hours?
Our team, Monday to Friday on Gulf Standard Time. Support is aligned to the UAE working week rather than the Indian one.
Do you have UAE Dynamics 365 references?
Not yet — the Dubai office is new and we will not manufacture one. We can introduce you to clients elsewhere on comparable Dynamics work, and our published case studies are real projects.
What happens to our existing NAV customisations?
They are assessed one by one. Some map to standard Business Central functionality, some become extensions, and some turn out to encode a process nobody follows any more and are best retired.